By Keith Carlson As a nurse, you have a breadth and depth of specialized knowledge that spans both the clinical and nonclinical. Whether you work in the ICU, hospice or school nursing, you hold significant expertise in your nursing brain. A nurse is more than just her clinically related knowledge. Have you ever considered how your non-nursing knowledge can feed and empower the nurse you are and make you a more effective clinician, researcher or educator?READ MORE

Friday April 28 – Sunday April 30 | Glendale, AZ
As a nurse you are busy caring for others, often times neglecting your own needs. Give yourself the gift of time to relax and rejuvenate. Participate in skills toward maintaining balance and synergy of your physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, personal and professional well-being.READ MORE

The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) has posted its draft acute care nurse practitioner scope of practice, standards of practice and standards of professional performance for public comment at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5GXW9XK. Please access the files and provide your recommendations and comments for each section before the closing deadline of April 7, 2017.

ANA’s Committee on Nursing Practice Standards seeks public comment on its “Draft Recognition of a Nursing Specialty, Approval of a Specialty Nursing Scope of Practice Statement, Acknowledgment of Specialty Nursing Standards of Practice, and Affirmation of Focused Practice Competencies.” This 2017 document will replace and reflects significant revision of ANA’s 2010 “Recognition of a Nursing Specialty, Approval of a Specialty Nursing Scope of Practice Statement, and Acknowledgment of Specialty Nursing Standards of Practice.” Access the draft document and response survey at www.nursingworld.org/PublicComment-DraftRecognitionNursingSpecialty. Please use this opportunity to contribute to ANA’s focus on transparency and recognition of the important insights of public examination of its products. Do encourage colleagues, students, organizations and other stakeholders to also review and submit comments. The closing date for submission of comments is midnight EDT April 24, 2017.

.

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

Calling All Clinical Educators! Land at O.A.S.I.S. HospitalOASIS Hospital, the Valley's Premier Orthopedic Hospital is seeking talented and knowledgeable Clinical Educators to join their world class team! These highly sought after full-time RN positions provide autonomy, exceptional rate, a family setting, great schedule, and pure joy.

Welcome to Spring and April in ANA’s Year of the Healthy Nurse! This month we are focusing on stress and how it affects nurses – both at work and at home. In a recent survey, eighty-two percent of surveyed RNs and nursing students indicated they were at a significant level of risk for workplace stress (ANA & IGC, 2016). This stress often affects the health of nurses and sometimes even the outcomes of patients and patient care. ANA provides resources to help nurses cope with that stress:

The House Health Committee approved SB1336 in 30 minutes on March 19. The testimony was brief. ARMA Lobbyist Steve Barclay announced that his organization no longer opposed the bill once an amendment clarifying liability was added. The bill now will be voted on by the House, and then will return to the Senate for concurrence. No further opposition is anticipated. If you think your letters did not help, consider this comment from Representative Lawrence. “I am so glad that I can finally empty my in-box”.

SB1133 certified nurse midwives; nurse practitioners has been signed. Over 1200 Arizona Nurses contacted legislators. Never underestimate the influential voice of nursing when we all work together! The bill will become law on Arizona’s “general effective date” which is on the 91st day after the legislature adjourns.

On March 29 Governor Ducey signed an executive order requiring the AZ Board of Nursing and 26 other boards and commissions to file a report by June 30, 2017. The report requires data on education and training requirements, continuing education, fees and processes. He said the reports are a “new step toward modernizing our licensing system so that barriers to economic opportunity are a thing of the past.” You can read the executive order HERE.

July 16-21, 2017 | Payson, AZ
The Royal Family Kid’s Camp takes 75 children aged 6-11, who have been turned over to the State Foster Care System, to camp for 5 1/2 days during the summer. Often these children have been abandoned, abused, or neglected. This year, camp will be held at Tonto Rim Christian Camp near Payson, July 16th-21st. RFKC is in desperate need of a nurse year who might be interested in working with these children and would be kind enough to donate their services by staying with them at the camp. If you are interested, there is an informational meeting at Chandler Christian Church on April 6th at 6:30 p.m. There is also a one day training in Chandler the beginning of July. RFKC is non-profit 501c3 and depends on volunteers and donations.

Wednesday, April 19, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. | Peoria Sports Complex, Peoria
Registration is now open for the West Valley Healthcare Career Expo, presented by WESTMARC and Career Connectors. This event is free and open to anyone seeking employment in healthcare. With a great line-up of Arizona’s best Healthcare employers and educational institutions participating, this is an incredible opportunity for anyone in the healthcare industry looking for a new career. Register today!

By Jason Poquette When I graduated from pharmacy school almost 25 years ago, filling prescriptions for opioids in a community setting wasn't a topic of great concern. We did it. We made sure the dosing was appropriate and counseled the patients about side effects. We knew about forged prescriptions and probably caught some. But today's pharmacists must take many more things into consideration whenever we fill a prescription for a controlled substance.READ MORE

Medical News TodayWhen it comes to oral contraceptives, women often hear about the increased cancer risk they pose. A new study, however, finds that the using birth control pills may protect against certain cancers for at least 30 years. From an analysis of more than 46,000 women, researchers from the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom found that women who had ever used oral contraceptive pills were at lower risk of colorectal, ovarian, and endometrial cancers, compared with women who had never used the pill.
READ MORE

By Joan Spitrey Just as the new international Surviving Sepsis guidelines come to publication this month, a Virginia physician becomes a small voice for practice change among his peers. Dr. Peter Marik believes he may have stumbled upon a possible aid in the survivability of sepsis. In his recent study in the CHEST Journal, Marik and his colleagues describe their success with the use of intravenous vitamin C, hydrocortisone and thiamine in their patients with septic shock.READ MORE

ForbesIn 2014, an event occurred that forever transformed online communication. For the first time ever, mobile internet use became more common than PC/desktop browsing. Simply put, more people began to use mobile devices to connect with businesses, organizations, and the healthcare industry. In the healthcare industry, one of the keys to success for any hospital is its ability to communicate with patients, clinicians, and other stakeholders. How can the use of cutting-edge technology improve these communication processes?READ MORE

Medscape (free login required)Burnout is prevalent among not only physicians and nurses but also clinical associates and office staff, and new data quantify the working conditions that are associated with the high rates.
Overall, 41 percent of primary care team members working in a Veterans Affairs (VA) patient-centered medical home report burnout, report Christian D. Helfrich, PhD, MPH, from the Seattle-Denver Center of Innovation for Veteran-Centered and Value-Driven Care at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Washington, and colleagues.READ MORE

By Christina Thielst Patient portals and the functionality they offer have the potential to increase access to service, improve convenience and more effectively engage patients and consumers. They can also increase efficiencies for both patients and their providers. Unfortunately, some of those who have adopted patient portals complain that they have made the investment, only to realize low adoption and utilization rates. So, why might patients not be using your patient portal?READ MORE

HealthDay NewsHeroin use in the United States jumped fivefold over a decade, and young, white males are the epidemic's most likely victims, a new study finds.
One addiction specialist blamed the lax use of prescription opioid painkillers — narcotics such as Oxycontin, Percocet and Vicodin — for the surge in heroin use.READ MORE

Becker's ASC ReviewPracticeMatch released a survey on nurse practitioner and physician assistant compensation and career satisfaction. The survey included more than 1,000 NP and PA respondents. Thirty-eight percent of NPs and 44 percent of PAs report being very satisfied in their current roles; one-fourth of the total respondents said they were extremely satisfied and only 6 percent said they were unsatisfied.READ MORE

By Terry Lynam Not all opioid antagonists come in a bottle. Some behavioral healthcare providers are fighting the scourge of opioid abuse by equipping colleagues, patients, families and community partners against the epidemic. "The demand for substance-abuse services is skyrocketing, and a large driver of that is the opioid-abuse problem," said Bruce Goldman, LCSW, director of substance-abuse services at Zucker Hillside Hospital in New York. "I've been in this field for many years, and I've never seen so many sudden, tragic deaths of otherwise healthy, young, productive people."READ MORE

Becker's ASC ReviewNurse leadership is a key aspect of any ASC's success; they oversee clinical quality and help establish the safety culture of a facility. They are also instrumental in ensuring high-quality patient experience.READ MORE